The 69 greatest things about college football

I had originally wanted this article to be a celebration of my 1000th page view. Over the past few days, however, as I viewed youtube clips over and over, started compiling my list, and eventually wrote this article about scheduling, I found that I could not wait any longer, (Besides, the 1000th page view will probably occur with this article).

This article, as the name implies, is a list, in a somewhat relative order, of the 69 best things about college football. These could be a player, a rivalry, a particular game, a particular play, or a facet of college football that is unique. You will get the idea once you start reading. I'm sure I left a few great ones off the list. So if youre saying "where is the Steve Emtman highlight reel?" or "most of your stuff is post- 1980," or "69 is an immature number to set your list at," then, write your own damn blog. My only hope is that this takes you multiple hours to read and enjoy, and that you don't do something more important in your life as a result of reading it. And to be fair, here is the Emtman highlight reel.

Also, I only wrote about stuff I could provide clips or articles to. For some reason the 7 OT games are erased from the internet, so that isnt on the list, for example.

69. The fact that before 1997, games could end in ties, yet rarely did.

I feel like this is a good place to start to discuss the culture of college football, and get you in the mindset of how badass it is. I wrote a paper for class recently on how Presidents have used sports to cultivate their image. In the introduction, I had to explain why sports are so important in our society (its always weird having to do this to someone who isnt an avid sports fan). One of the reasons they are is because they reflect the capitalistic American society. They represent hard work, individual achievement, best man wins, etc, etc. American sports also clearly reflect winning. In every game of ours, there is a winner, and a loser. We watch to see who wins. It is interesting that the most popular sport in the world, Soccer, is the only sport left that can end in a tie (and obviously does so frequently), and it is a sport that has never caught on in America, despite player migrations, ad campaigns, and the US' improvement in World Cup play. We are a culture that hates ties. We like defining losers and winners, and even have a saying that a tie is "like kissing your sister," (as a result of not having a sister, I never really got this?). After the 2004 NHL Lockout, the game decided to abolish ties and introduce a shootout. Yes, the shootout is exciting, but it is bred out of the ideology that nobody wants to watch 80 minutes of a game end in a 1-1 tie, or even a 5-5 tie.

What is interesting about college football is that games did end in ties before 1997, but not if the coaches could help it. There was a certain cutoff, so to speak, where if a team was down 7 and scored a touchdown, they would go for 2 and the win, as opposed to a tie. The only time a game did end in a tie is if it was tied for a long time before. (E.g. more research would need to be done, but I would guess that the cutoff was around 5 mins left in the game, where the team scoring would be worried that they would not get another possession.) So in short, if someone trailed 21-14, and scored with 11 minutes left, they would kick the extra point, and tie the game since there was so much time left. Then, if no one scored the rest of the game, naturally, it would end in a tie. But if a team was down 21-14 with 50 seconds left and scored, they would go for 2. Basically, coaches avoided the ties by all means.

The epitome of this was the 1984 Orange Bowl. Nebraska was ranked #1 in the nation, and scored with 47 seconds left. Down 1, they decided to go for 2. It was pretty obvious, even at that point in the game/world, that an extra point would end in a tie, and give Nebraska the National Championship. REPEAT - they would win the championship if they made an extra point. Nevertheless, Nebraska decided to go for 2, and lost. Of course, game theorists, statisticians, logicians (read: nerds) have since come out and said that Osborne should have gone for 1, to which the coach has even stated: "Maybe im not that smart." Despite his obvious misstep, he isnt OVERLY criticized for this move. Why? Because he did the American thing, and went for the win.

There are tons of examples of this, but many are games on this list, so I will not mention them at this time. That beign said, I already sent a link to the 1984 Orange Bowl, so this first post was already a 2 for 1 thing.

68. Explaining to people that somehow, someway, the BCS is an improvement over the way College Football used to work.

Which I kinda did here, in my old blog. Please excuse the fact that I couldnt write in 2009.

67. The fact that Fightmusic.com exists.

For not only all your fight songs, (beware the loud lion that the guy set up to play on his home page) but basically every song every band plays at football games. So you can get OSU's hang on sloopy, LSU's Tiger Rag, FSU's War Chant, and USC's Tribute to Troy. Those are just a few of my personal favorites. I've spent hours on this site before, and may or may not play the songs of the teams I bet on when Im watching them, and/or when Im doing other chores around the house. The main noticeable omission from the website is ND's 1812 overture............

66. Notre Dame's 1812 Overture into "May I have your attention please, this is Sergeant Tim McCarthy of the Indiana State police."

A tradition at ND home games, seen here, (this video would be cooler if every person wasn't infatuated with/didnt totally believe Weis was the second coming of the Lord). But between the third and fourth quarter of ND football games, the band will spark up the 1812 overture, followed by an announcement from Sgt. Tim McCarthy. He will give advice and/or a warning about driving. Dont drink and drive, be careful in bad weather conditions, be careful getting out of the parking lot, etc, etc. And then, he will provide a hilarious pun. A full story of him can be read here.

There are a bunch more examples of his puns on youtube, that can be found if you search hard. But here is one, and another, and another, and another, etc.

65. Its a Saturday Night in Death Valley

The words spoken by the PA announcer at LSU Tigers football games. A great intro video. The #1 stadium I would like to go to that I haven't been to. That is in any sport.

64. Joe Kines

Enough said.

63. Jump Around

Something that was a lot cooler before it became over-saturated. Now, announcers kiss Wisconsin fans' ass and consider them the greatest student section of all time. They're trash. But, this is still pretty cool. (I seriously hate Wisconsin more and more with each passing minute).

62. Crabtree's Catch

Here. Bonus points for being the only player I really liked from the state of Texas in the last 5 years. Bonus points for Colt McCoys face. Negative points for the fact that they eventually just handed Oklahoma the Big 12 South.

61. Doing Heisman's on Hos.

Norm Chow being part of the video was an insta minus ten in ranking.

60. Herbstreit getting knocked out of the game.

Seen here. Just remember this clip the next time you hear him be overly critical of any player in a game he is announcing. But this is a lot funnier than him just getting knocked out. Lets dissect:

a) Ohio State is losing 31-3.

b) Look at his form at 0:07. He is afraid to step into the throw, shortarms it, and this is probably the #1 reason he got hurt.

c) Keith Jackson's total boredom in regards to the game, and the fact that he doesnt attempt to provide a euphemism for Herbstreit's play, instead saying "Herbstreit throws a balloon down field."

d) Herbstreit proceeds to writhe in pain on the ground as if he got shot just because somebody fell on him.

59. Run Lindsey Run

Imagine this scene today. A college team is playing their bitter rival. They trail by one with a minute and a half left. Worse yet, they are backed up inside their own ten yard line. On third and long from his own eight, the QB rolls out into his own endzone, evades the defenders and a safety, steps up, and delivers a strike to a wide receiver at the 25. He proceeds to break free and beat everyone down the sideline for a 92 yard touchdown. The team wins the game, and then proceeds to win every game then on, and win the national championship. This would be groundbreaking, crazy news right?

Too bad. It already happened when Buck Belue hit Lindsey Scott. Unreal call by Larry Munson. "I broke my chair, a steel chair with about a five inch cushion.....Need to renovate this thing.....Man is there gonna be some property damage tonight." This contributed to The World's Largest Cocktail Party being one of the best - which I guess is now known as the "Florida Georgia Classic" because we dont want to encourage underage drinking. God I fucking hate America.

58. The 1998 Arkansas Tennessee game.

This game is not shown often, or even discussed frequently in the annals of great games. (the fact that this person was able to upload 2 hours onto youtube deserves applause alone) Beyond it being a good game, however, we can look at it in hindsight and realize it was a program changer for both teams. One stupid play by 8-0 Arkansas turned their season around. Instead of improving to 9-0, they lost, and finished 9-3, which included a loss to Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. Had they won, they would have won the SEC West and had a rematch with Tennessee in the SEC title game. More importantly, Tennessee would not have gone on to win the National Title, the first under the BCS. Tenn went on to be successful for the next few years to come, while Arkansas faded until Houston Nutt implemented the Wildcat in the mid-00s. It could have all been different, all based around this game.

If youre a man, youll watch the whole 2 hours above. If you just wanna see the swing play, its here. (Sean McDonough losing it into insta-Rocky Top qualifies this highlight alone).

57. The 2000 Independence Bowl

Or, what happens when a team from Texas plays a team from Mississippi in Shreveport in a historically unseasonable blizzard, and the game goes to OT. In other words, it fucking rules.

56. Tim Brown

And my favorite highlight reel/game of his. It looks like he gets shot out of a cannon at 1:53, and 1:57 is nasty, even if it is on the punter.

55. Bobby Bowden Spear

I never liked FSU. I never even really liked Bowden. But this is badass. I have vivid memories of when the war chant kicked in at 0:45, me rushing to the computer to put a sizeable bet on FSU, because it was pretty obvious they werent going to lose that game.

54. Ralphie the Buffalo

More specifically, how someone (us) pay for the living expenses of a 227 kg live buffalo so she can run out on the field for 1 minute every Colorado home game. Or in the special case of 2006, we can also pay for her travel and upkeep across the country so she can visit UGA. Speaking of which.

53. UGA

UGA is the best mascot in all of sports. He has an air conditioned dog house, (99% chance his A/C works better than mine). His lineage is well documented, as is each UGA's Win/Loss record. He attempted to bite an Auburn player who scored. Articles like this spring up when an UGA passes away. I remember hearing that a few thousand people showed up to one of the more recent UGA funerals, i.e., 10 times more than the amount of people that will show up to all of my readers' funeral combined.

52. Flutie's Hail Mary

This highlight strikes an odd chord with me. When I started doing this list, I said I wasn't going to put it on there. Why? Because its so old now. Its cliche. Everyone has seen it. Big deal, BC beat Miami. Then, as I was thinking, I said I could put it on there, almost out of obligation, because it 'probably' is one of the greatest 69 things about college football. Then, after watching it again, I thought it was awesome all over again. It certainly is something that is so engrained in our culture that it loses its awesomeness over a while. Watching this highlight on its own, with Musburgers call, its clear its a top 69 moment.

Also consider this. The final was 47-45. BC was ranked 10, Miami 12. Kosar threw for 447 yard, and Flutie threw for 472 and 4 TDs. At the time, Flutie was the all time leader in passing yards. Those stats are known, but seem to get lost in the mix of showing the final play over and over. Flutie went on to win the Heisman. BC would beat Houston in the Cotton bowl and finish 5th overall, and Miami would lose to UCLA in the Fiesta Bowl, and finish 18th.

51. Tennessee Florida 2001

Badass game. (For some reason the game jumps to the 4th quarter, but u can rewind it). One of the first games that are now commonplace; the 3:30 EST SEC game on CBS. This rivalry was as good as it got in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

50. Michigan Northwestern 2000

Bonus points for Musburger calling the game for his alma mater, (and presumably having bet on them as well). He doesnt sound excited at 5:45 when Thomas fumbles at all.......

49. Howard's Rock

An early episode of Gameday makes this clip pretty cool. Coach Frank Howard's quote is even better: "I told em if youre not gonna give me 110%, keep your filthy hands off my rock."

48. 2000 Orange Bowl

Great 30 minutes worth of gametape on this one. Incredible game with only one noticeable flaw: The end. Had it turned out different and continued, this would have been only greater.

47. Dotting the i

Saw this in person, and its pretty great. For those of you who dont know, every home game the band does this script ohio, and a tuba player is selected to finish it by running out and being the "dot" in the I in Ohio. It is considered a great honor and a reward for all the hard work of being in the marching band for four years. As you will see, sometimes they have had celebrities do the honor, such as alumnus Jack Nickalus, or former coach Woody Hayes. This clip is from the intro to #1 Ohio State vs #2 Michigan in 2006.

46. 2001 GMAC Bowl

You can see the tying drive here, and the winning drive here. Awesome game.

45. 1993 Sugar Bowl

The 1992-93 season marked the first year of the Bowl Coalition, which sought to match the #1 vs #2 team in the nation at the end of the year (the precursor to the BCS). In 1990, Colorado and Georgia Tech split the title. In 1991, Washington and Miami split. Therefore, it was a goal that the 1992 season ended all split titles (there have been two since - 1997 and 2003).

The Sugar Bowl was the first site to host the first bowl coalition game. It pitted #1 Miami vs #2 Alabama. Miami was favored by 8, was defending national champions, and had Heisman QB Gino Toretta. As a result, they were heavy favorites to win back to back titles. Nobody told Alabama that though.

You can tell, in hindsight, that this game was over before it began. On the first kickoff, Alabama gets down the field and knocks the shit out of Miami. Immediately they look like theyre playing loose, and Miami is playing tight and scared. George Teague played absolutely out of his mind; with a pick six at 6:16, and the now famous play where he chased down a Miami WR and stripped him from behind to prevent a TD at 6:45. Alabama ended up having 3 defensive players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft; Copeland at 5, Curry at 6, Teague at 29.

44. The Flea Kicker

Bonus points for Musburger obviously.... "midddlllle, juggggles, diviiiiing, TOUCHDOWN" Although I hate when the #1 team survives an upset bid, I hate Mizzou, so its okay. Still though, I feel like I need to balance it out with a time they didnt survive........

43. No. One vs No One

I maintain this is the greatest T-Shirt of all time (at :48), even if it blew up in their face. I said it before and Ill say it again. Its an awesome game if Keith Jackson gets excited, as he does from 7:13 on.

42. Ohio State Michigan State 1998

And another example of a #1 team not surviving. Mega bonus points for Musburger getting the spread into the conversation twelve seconds into the telecast. You can tell he had them, and was thinking they could somehow cover 28 points when they were losing outright in the fourth quarter. Julian Peterson forced THREE fumbles in this game. This game is emblematic of OSU coach John Cooper's career, and a nice introduction of Saban to the world.

41. 5th Down

Controversy time. Pretty obvious what goes wrong here, but Ill break it down, along with how bad the announcer's commentary is.

2:48 - Colorado Picks up a first down. 1st and goal from the 4 yard line.

3:10 - Colorado Spikes the Ball. No idea why they did this. Now 2nd down.

3:42 - "This turf is an embarrassment"

4:01 - This is where confusion sort of starts. The announcer says "2nd down, excuse me, first down." Yeah, its first down even though they just spiked the ball you idiot. The down marker reflects the right down, however, 2nd.

4:08 - Bienemy runs it down to the 1. Should be 3rd and goal from the 1.

4:39 - Announcers are clueless. He thinks the chains are wrong, when they arent. He thinks it is now 2nd down. Again, they spiked it then ran it. Not rocket science. They realize this, then say, okay, it is Third Down. So at this point, we should be good, right? "that wont matter" says the announcer. Ohhh, the irony.

5:35 - There starts to be an uproar in the crowd. I think its in relation to that the down marker was never changed. You can hear the PA announcer say "2nd and goal".

5:53 - You can see that the down marker still says 2nd.

6:00 - Bienemy gets stuffed. Should be 4th down. They spike it. That should be it.

6:30 - Instead, now they have an extra down. The announcers have no clue.

7:06 - I love this shot after they come back from teh replay. People start storming the field to let the refs know how big of idiots they are.

7:15 - Colorado scores. The fans run onto the field and start yelling at the line judge. The announcers think that they ran onto the field because theyre celebrating. Fucking morons. Thats why they ran and yelled at the ref.

Colorado went on to win the National Title.

40. Clockgate.

More controversy. I love that you get the Michigan announcers for this. Bonus points for there being an entire wikipedia page dedicated to the game.

39. Choke at the Doak

Part of the Florida Florida State rivalry. The rivalry built and built throughout the 1990s and hit an apex in 1997. FSU won the title in 1993. In 1994, the Choke happened. First off, :43 is the best endzone celebration ever. And as you will see, Florida blows a 31-3 lead with 13 minutes left. To go back to my original 69) post, Bowden was criticized for going for 1 and settling for a tie late in this game. As stated above, wikipedia pages for all!

38. The Greatest Game Ever Played in the Swamp

Continuing with the UF FSU history. The teams met later in the 1994 season in the Sugar Bowl, dubbed "The 5th quarter in the French Quarter," which is pretty awesome. FSU won 23-17. FSU and UF finished 4th and 7th in the final poll. In 1995, UF beat FSU in the Swamp. FSU would go on to beat ND in the Orange Bowl, and Florida would get embarrassed in the title game against Nebraska.

In 1996, the two met as the #1 and #2 team, in Tallahassee. FSU upset the Gators and were on pace to win the national championship. As fate would have it, the two met again in the Sugar Bowl. This time, Florida came out and bombed it every single play (no joke), and dominated FSU 52-20 for the title. Despite splitting with each other in the season, UF won the 1996 title. Which brings us to 1997.

This is dubbed the greatest game ever played in the swamp. UF had a bit of a down year, and were ranked #10 and were 8-2. FSU was #1 and undefeated. Had they won, they would be in line to win another national championship. I can only find the final drive of this game, but it does a good job capturing the excitement of the game. Bonus points to Janikowski immediately mocking the gators with the chomp. Super bonus points to Sean McDonugh going insane over UF coming back. He doesn't get this excited anymore. Probably because he is now paired with Matt Millen, who ruins peoples lives on a regular basis.

37. Kordell Stewart

Dude threw it 73 yards. Keith Jackson. Michigan Stadium. Big intra-conference matchup. IN-CREDIBLE!

36. Tommie Frazier's Run

On its own, the run is fucking amazing. Beyond that, its emblematic not only of Nebraskas dominance over Florida in the Fiesta Bowl, but of their dominance over the entire nation in the mid 1990s. Nebraska could have easily won the title in 1993 (more later), and then did win in 94, 95, and 97 (split). Such success has never been duplicated. It is hard to describe how good Nebraska really was. If we had to rank the greatest teams of my lifetime, they would be in the top 3 with Miami 01, and USC 04. Yet, despite their greatness, they are somehow forgotten - perhaps because the best pro player on their team turned out to be Grant Wistrom.

Consider this though. In 1995, they: averaged 51 points per game, and only gave up an average of 14. The smallest amount they won by was 14, against Washington State at home. They played #1o Kansas in Lawrence, and won 41-3. The Fiesta Bowl, from which this clip came, pitted them against UNDEFEATED Florida, who had beaten #6 FSU, #7 Auburn, #8 Tennessee, and #21 LSU in the regular season. Surely the Gators were battle tested, and ready for the challenge of taking on the #1 Huskers, right? Nebraska won 62-24. Mercy.

35. The Red River Rivalry

This highlight video quickly became one of my favorites. (in no small part due to the Rocky IV theme). And the highlight at 1:00 is one of the best on the internet. This rivalry is great because even though I usually hate both teams for the season, I find myself rooting for one of them during this game (usually just the underdog). But both teams are always so relevant that the game is relevant. The game took a step back the past year by moving from the Cotton Bowl to the new Texas Stadium. It occurs during the Texas State Fair, where, as Musburger points out, "is the best place to get up and drink a beer, eat a corn dog, and go see a major football game."

Of course, my favorite play from the rivalry is this.

34. Nebraska Oklahoma 2001

#1 vs #2. Game lived up to the hype for the most part, even though it is now obvious that Nebraska had some flaws, which would later be exposed by Colorado and Miami. The reverse passback to Crouch fucking rules, and can be seen at 5:16. This play cemented the game for Nebraska, and became a staple to Crouch's heisman campaign. You can see it with Nebraska commentary here.

33. Rudy

Without college football, this wouldnt exist.

32. Austins Got the Damn Zamboni!

Oops. Just making sure youre still paying attention. In all seriousness though, this is one of the landmark sporting events of our generation. Everyone knows who Austin is. Everyone knows that he didnt like McMahon. Everyone knows he drove the zamboni out to the ring. That cant be said about every sporting event. Most people dont know who won half of the BCS championships. Most people cant name half the Spurs roster from their title teams. Most people will forget that Troy Smith and Jason White won the Heisman. People will forget that this Stanley Cup ever happened. Austin's zamboni dive is a top 10-20 sports memory overall. Thats saying a lot since wrestling isnt real. On to the real 31.

32. FSU Miami Rivalry.

I think this sums it all up. All the wide rights start at 1:32. I always loved how in Wide Right I, he missed it by an inch, and Keith Jackson went nuts. Then, in Wide Right II, he missed by a mile, and hes subdued and plainly states: "he missed it to the right."

31. 1985 Iron Bowl

Believe it or not, this rivalry existed before last year (sarcasm, I hate the 2010 Auburn Tigers and all their hype). This is a great intro to the game, complete with Bo Jackson highlights. Bama's final drive can be seen here. Again, Keith Jackson excited. Bonus points for Big Al inexplicably getting pushed around in a giant shoe at the end of the clip.

30. Illinois Ohio State 2007

This isnt just bias. This was actually a really good game. These are great clips because they are some of the few clips on youtube that dont have bias, and actually show the great plays by both sides. #47 J. Leman for Illinois played out of control in this game. Keep an eye on him. The final part of the highlights is missing for some reason, so I included this as well. Inspirational words from Zook at 3:10: "Hes a sophomore, and he was a freshman last year."

29. The U Documentary

ESPN has taken a lot of the clips down from YouTube, so this is the bastardized trailers and highlights of the documentary. Unfortunately, they took down the segment of how they beat the shit out of Texas in the Cotton Bowl. But, this rules. Looking back, it looks like Jesse Armstead actually invented the suck it at :39.

28. Pony Excess Documentary

I may be in the minority when I say I liked this documentary way more than The U. I think that Pony Excess provided more information on the subject matter, and won in the unintentional comedy department. Examples of the latter would be Dickerson wearing sunglasses in his HS yearbook photo, a SMU player saying "when Im old, and I cant move no more, im gonna think about how we beat Arkansas' ass," and anything Ron Meyer ever said. Here is the trailer. Here is why Dickerson is cool. And heres even more proof of that previous statement. If those clips dont make you wanna watch the documentary, then you shouldnt be reading my blog (and probably arent at this point in this post).

Side note, I like how this uncovers recruiting violations in the late 1970s and early 1980s, "The U" talked about recruiting, and the film "Hoop Dreams" talked about recruiting as well. They all show the dirt behind college recruiting, but then Im supposed to be shocked and appalled when it happens in 2011? This isnt a new revelation people.

27. 1979 Sugar Bowl

#1 Alabama vs #2 Penn State. The game ended in a goal line stand which gave Alabama the first of consecutive championships. Interesting trivia fact. After the third down play Alabama lineman Marty Lyons allegedly told PSU QB Chuck Fusina "you better pass." Penn State didn't, and they were subsequently stuffed and lost the game.

26. Michigan Appalachian State 2007

Probably the biggest upset in any sport in my lifetime. Beyond just losing the game, this signaled the end of Michigan football as we know it. Michigan's storied program was consistent throughout the 1990s and 2000s. They won the title in 1997. They won the Orange Bowl in 2000. They went to the Rose Bowl in 2004, 2005, and 2007 (the only year they missed is when the Rose Bowl was the title game). In 2006-2007, they started 11-0, and only lost to #1 Ohio State, and then to #5 USC in the Rose Bowl. Even in 2007, which started with the App State upset, they would finish 9-4 and beat defending champion Florida in the Capital One Bowl. 99% of programs would dream of the success that Michigan had.

But it wasnt good enough. Michigan fired Lloyd Carr and brought in Rich Rodriguez. Since then, theyve gone 15-22, and lost in their only bowl game against Mississippi State, 52-14. In addition, RichRod is the center of speculation over recruiting violations. Grass is always greener, be careful what you wish for, etc. Coulda kept Carr and been consistent. Instead, you suck now.

You can also watch just the end of the game here. Lol @ 1:11! Boo-hoo, Im gonna cry.

25. The fact that I'm better at Carmen San Diego as a result of College Football.

If it weren't for college football, I don't think any of us would know that Pullman, WA, Manhattan, KS, Norman, OK, Tuscaloosa, AL, Starkville, MS, Athens, GA, Morgantown, WV, Clemson, SC, or Corvallis, OR even existed.

24. Florida Auburn 1994

This is one of the best intros ever. First, Musburger. Second, map of Florida. Third, Baby Bowden. Fourth, calling Terry Dean a Heisman Candidate. Then, the game itself. Auburn started 9-0. They then tied UGA and lost to Alabama. They were ineligible to play in a bowl game, and finished 9-1-1.

23. UNLV Wisconsin 2002

Perhaps at first glance, an odd choice. After all, Wisconsin had only an okay year which resulted in an Alamo Bowl win over Colorado, while UNLV was their usual awful. No highlights exist from this game on YouTube. Maybe one of the reasons no highlights exist is this, which also makes it the 22nd coolest thing.

22. 1998 Big 12 Title Game

Here. It was the first year of the BCS and only the third year of the Big 12 Title game, so why not get insane right away? Kansas State came in ranked #3 in the BCS, and were in a position where if they beat Texas A&M, they would go the inaugural BCS National Championship. Texas A&M was ranked 8th in the nation, but still figured to be no match for the Wildcats (led by Michael Bishop and of course, Martin Gramatica).

Things played out accordingly up until the 4th quarter. KSU, leading 27-12, with only 10 minutes to go to the championship, proceeded to shit the bed. They blew the lead, and ultimately lost in 2OT. Texas A&M would go on to lose to OHio State in the Sugar Bowl. K-State fell all the way to the Alamo Bowl. There, they were upset again by Purdue (Drew Brees). They haven't come close to winning the national title since.

21. Penn State Notre Dame 1992

Now known as the Snow Bowl. This game is great, and embodies my two original arguments. a) teams would go for two and not settle for the tie most of the time. b) the old situation with no conferences led to games such as this - intense, physical, do-or-die atmospheres. If you didn't know better, you would think this was a 1 vs 2 game. In reality, it took place in mid-November between #8 ND and #21 PSU. ND still had an outside shot at a national title. While they did win out, they only climbed to #3, at which point they destroyed Texas AM in the Cotton Bowl. The Joe Paterno reaction at 10:42 is probably the best part of any clip Ive posted in this article.

20. 2005 Capital One Bowl

I really cant understand why this game and hail mary doesnt get more publicity. The only thing I can think of is a potential bias against Iowa or the Big 10. It was a great game, as was the Flutie Hail Mary, and the Stewart Hail Mary, but this game was a bowl game, while the other two were regular season games. In the case of Stewart, Colorado did end up climbing to #2 in the nation before losing @ Nebraska. And in the case of Flutie, BC ended up 5th in the nation. My point is, while both games were important and featured good teams, neither played directly into determining a national champion. Therefore, why is the Capital One bowl the one who gets less publicity. (not to mention they never mention Colorado or BC's eventual successes in their respective seasons when they show the highlights).

19. 1980 Holiday Bowl

Another game that somehow is under publicized today (maybe cause of SMU's subsequent infractions?) It was loaded with star power; McMahon, Dickerson. As you will see, BYU trailed 45-25 with four minutes left in the game. Then McMahon took over. BYU scored 21 points in four minutes, CAPPED off with a Hail Mary. So my question again is, why does this Hail Mary get less publicity than the others? Negative points for Craig James being involved in any fashion.

18. 1982 Sugar Bowl

Cant really match star power such as Dan Marino and Herschel Walker anymore. Bonus points for the game being on here in full. Bonus points for UGA's band playing "Bad, bad LeRoy Brown" seemingly every time Walker carried the ball. Bonus points for Pitt's old helmets. Bonus points for doing the introductions on Bourbon Street. Bonus points for Wannstedt not being involved with Pitt at this point in history. In terms of games shown on ESPN Classic, this is in the top 5, along with Mariners Yankees 1995 Game 5 (Musburger), 1998 Rose Bowl, 2o06 Rose Bowl, and the 1993 Rose Bowl. Speaking of which....

17. 1993 Rose Bowl

I've seen this game more times than I care to admit. All Wheatley.

Note. Were really getting into the nitty-gritty. When I started this project, I had no idea that I would rank the 82 Sugar Bowl and the 93 Rose Bowl so low. It should tell you the quality of things to come.

16. Earthquake Game

This should alert you to college football's powers. On October 8, 1988, LSU and Auburn squared off in Death Valley. Auburn led most of the way, 6-0. On a final fourth down, LSU QB Tommy Hodson hit Eddie Fuller in the back of the endzone to tie the game, and eventually take the lead. As legend has it, the next Monday, when scientists arrived at the Geological center across town, they noticed a tremor in the seismograph. They researched what time it occurred, and realized it was the exact second of when Fuller caught the game winning TD pass. Yes, the crowd at the game was so loud that it recorded a 2.8 (?) earthquake.

15. 1994 Orange Bowl

This game is finally available on youtube, after it had seemed that all highlights from 1993-1995 were permanently erased from existence and hiding in an NBC vault somewhere in Burbank, CA. Negative points for the game being fixed in FSU's favor (not to mention they were selected to play in the game over ND, who they lost to in the regular season). Super negative points for Dick Enberg announcing. Nebraska went on to win the title in 1994, 95, and split in 97. They could have easily won four out of five. All things considered, if Nebraska Kicker Byron Bennett doesnt miss the field goal by 50 yards, this is a top 3 game of all time, and is thought of more often than it is today (still blame NBC).

14. Virginia Tech's Enter Sandman

By far the most badass intro in the game. The fact that I hate VT and this is still rated so high speaks volumes of how cool this is. The audio on this one is a bit better.

13. Charles Woodson vs David Boston

I would need a lot more space to truly describe the Ohio State Michigan rivalry. Also, I feel that many have already done it better than I could ever do (theres a fucking HBO documentary about it, after all). But, I think this clip personifies it all. This clip was from the 1997 game. Michigan would go on to with the title, while Boston would get knocked out later in the game, and go on to be a bust after hurting his knee and reporting that he took somewhere in the vicinity of 200 pills a day (not an exaggeration).

For the hell of it though, heres some tradition, the Musburger intro to the biggest one in 2006 and some Keith Jackson. If you dont get chills during the Keith Jackson intro, theres something wrong with you.

12. Fights vs "Fights"

Im gonna sound like Crocodile Dundee in a moment here, so excuse me. But in our current culture of over-exaggeration and dramatization, things seems to be lost. So here are a couple of clips, coming from one of the best rivalries in sports, that demonstrate the difference between our current culture and the way things used to be. In 2008, to whoever posted this, this is NOT a fight, THIS, is a fight.

11. The 2007 College Football Season

A complete review can be seen here. By far the most unpredictable, illogical, crazy season of my lifetime. The #2 team lost a record 7 times (which is almost half of the weeks). The first was #2 USC who lost as a FORTY ONE point underdog to Stanford. That alone is nuts. Then, Cal lost to Oregon State, South Florida lost to Rutgers, BC lost to FSU, Oregon lost to Arizona (in a game where Dixon went down), Kansas lost to Mizzou, and West Virginia lost to Pitt.

Kansas and Mizzou played in the final week of the regular season, both undefeated, ranked 2 and 3 respectively. WV would have played in the national championship if they didnt lose to below .500 Pitt. Mizzou was ranked #1 in the nation going into the final week, and when they lost to Oklahoma, they didnt even make a BCS bowl. We were a few key plays away from a Mizzou West Virginia national championship (yikes). Before this season, the #1 and #2 team didnt lose in the same week since 1996. In 2007, it happened THREE times. Should I go on?

Illinois beat #5 Wisconsin, #21 Penn State, and #1 Ohio State in Columbus, and played in the Rose Bowl. Kentucky beat #1 LSU in 3 OTs. Arkansas beat #1 LSU in 3 OTs. LSU became the only team ever to win the title despite losing twice in the regular season. Oklahoma lost to Colorado. Hawaii went undefeated (capped off by "no penalties, no penalties, yes,") and proceeded to get whooped by UGA in the Sugar Bowl. And of course, Michigan lost to App State.

Unfortunately, the BCS bowls ended up being anticlimactic (and most bowl games, safe for the Peach Bowl). But what more could you want after the regular season?

10. The Pose

In the matter of twenty seconds, Howard makes a 93 yard punt return against his rival, sealing the game, the rivalry, a trip to the Rose Bowl, and a Heisman Trophy. Not too shabby, right? On top of it all, he pulls a pose that would be copied by all - from heisman hopefuls to kids fucking around in their backyards - for years to come.

9. Catholics vs Convicts

If the Notre Dame Penn State Snow Bowl didnt illustrate my two original points, then this will . On October 15, 1988, #1 Miami traveled to #4 Notre Dame. Miami was defending champion and had won 36 games in a row. It was only the sixth week of the season, but it was already clear at this point that the loser would be out of the title race, and the winner would continue on. It basically amounted to a quarter final or semifinal of sort. So when Miami scored with :45 seconds left to cut it to 1, they decided to go for 2. Even though Miami was #1, and theoretically had 'more to lose', they went for 2 as if it were second nature (it would make more sense for ND to go for 2 had the positions been flipped). Of course, the ball was knocked away.

Notre Dame went on to finish undefeated, and won the national championship. Miami would go on the win the rest of their games, and finished #2. Despite the fact that they didnt play each other in a BCS national championship game, there was NO controversy over who was the best team in the nation was this year. You didnt have Mark May or Skip Bayless, let alone FUCKING CONGRESS, coming out crying for a playoffs or alternate system. The games did the talking.

I would argue that the BCS and conferences were created for a) money, but also b) to create controversy and argument. They purposely make things difficult to create attention, which in turn makes more money. Its all a conspiracy theory. The game was fine in the late 80s before they "fixed it". Oh well, enjoy the clips.

Oh yeah, and if you couldn't guess, Musburger had an awesome intro.

8. The Band is on the Field

Still my favorite play after all these years. How could it not be? A rivalry. Ruining Elway's career. Stanford still maintaining that Cal was down at :10, and their record books reflect a 20-19 Stanford victory. My favorite part still comes at :25, when someone apparently ran onto the field to steal the padding from around the goal post. At least, that is what I imagine happened. If you know that he was a student worker and that was his job or something, dont tell me. I want to die thinking my version of the story occurred.

7. 2007 Fiesta Bowl

The game that really needs no introduction. Beyond the final few minutes and OT, however, was a great game throughout. Boise came in as a 9 point underdog, which isnt astronomical in any sense, so while the media made the game out to be great due to the colossal upset, I am making it out to be great because it was great. Boise held a 28-10 lead throughout the third, and for a while it looked like the game would be a nice upset with no theatrics. Boise was totally dominant. With 90 seconds left, OU trailed by 8 and scored a TD to cut it to two. Their first attempt failed, but there was PI. The second was good, but OU was called for an illegal shift. Needing to convert from the 6 yard line, OU did just that. Already awesome.

On the first play of Boises drive, Zabransky throws a pick 6. Just like that, OU scored 15 points in 24 seconds. Then, a hook and ladder on 4th and 9 scores a long TD to tie the game and force OT.

In OT, on the first play, Peterson took it to the house. On Boise's turn, they faced yet another 4th down. They decided to run toss-pass for a Touchdown. Then, in a stunning twist for 2007 (and not stunning if it were the late 80s - although OT wouldnt exist in the late 80s), Boise decided to go for two. On top of it, they run the statue of liberty.

Bonus points for me, as I watched this game alone with Canna in a hotel room in New Orleans. Everything from that trip ruled. Going to the Sugar Bowl, Bourbon Street, eating that pizza vendor, going to the Casino, Fuddruckerz in the casino, going to the Fan Fest and kicking the FGs, and only being in the hotel room to watch the Fiesta Bowl, and the "The Marine" trailer approximately 600 times to the point we can both recite it to this day. None of those things are lame, including the Fiesta Bowl.

6. 1997 Rose Bowl

My favorite game of all time. It may seem surprising to many of you, since it features Ohio State coming back to win and possibly causing Snake Plummer the national championship. But to me, the Rose Bowl will always be the greatest game, the grandaddy, and I have fond memories of all the mid-late 90s Rose Bowls. This one stands out, however, because, of the stakes and late game drama (I know Michigan won the title the next year, but despite the final score, it wasnt that close or good of a game). And of course, you not only get Musburger and Vermeil, but you get Musburger clearly having bet on A$U, and you get the greatest call in any sport at 6:08 - 6:27. If ASU didnt shit the bed and give up the late drive, that Plummer run for a national title would be remembered up there with Vince Youngs late scamper in the Rose Bowl......

5. The fact that there isn't just one, but multiple highlight reels on YouTube to promote the 2011 Florida State Oklahoma football game.

You know me, I love college football, and even I find this somewhat extreme. I'm looking forward to Illinois hosting Ohio State, going to Penn State again, and even hosting ASU, but I wouldnt make a fucking highlight video about it. While the videos arent anything great, they are emblematic of something great about college football. The fact that months in advance, fans can make videos promoting a game that may or may not live up to the hype, but will go a great deal in determining the national champion for the season. If you look hard, Im sure you could find more user created videos for other games. So enjoy, and enjoy. I hope the game is this good and lives up to the hype, which brings me to my next point.

4. Games that live up to their hype and then some Part I:

USC Notre Dame 2005 In our current world, nearly every game gets hyped up beyond belief. We will soon see the hype machine blow up Oregon LSU for the opening week of the 2011 season. Nebraska v. Ohio State will be hyped up. We will see hype for the aforementioned FSU OU. ESPN needs something to draw attention every week. That being said, in our culture of over-hype, I would argue that this game was hyped more than any other non-title game in the past 10 years. More than any 1vs2, more than any Red River Rivalry, more than any OSU Michigan (including their 1vs2), more than any Rose Bowl, etc. And it lived up to the hype....and then some.

3. Games that live up to their hype and then some Part II:

The 2006 Rose Bowl. Which is also the best national title game of the BCS era. And, it really isnt even close. Since none of the other title games are on the list, I might as well rank the national title games of the BCS era. Id go: 1) Texas USC, 2) Florida Oklahoma, 3) Tennessee FSU, 4) FSU VT, 5) OSU Miami (many would put this higher, but I refuse to since the game was fixed), 6) LSU Oklahoma, 7) Oklahoma FSU, 8) Auburn Oregon, 9) Alabama Texas, 10) Miami Nebraska, 11) Florida Ohio State, 12) LSU Ohio State, 13) USC Oklahoma......(9-13 are a bunch of downright trash).

2. Brent Musburger

Come on. Have you watched all these highlights? How many was Musburger involved in? Anytime you turn on ESP classic, he is somehow involved in the game. It has gotten to the point that I think Musburger is the only human who somehow knows how to be in two places at once. He has somehow done the best Pac-10, Big12, Big10, ACC, SEC, and National Championship games. How could he be involved in nearly every Rose Bowl, every Ohio State game, and still have done Catholics vs Convicts, and Florida Auburn 94, etc etc. On top of it all, he makes it no mystery of who he is rooting for, and who he bet on. His now ubiquitous "you are looking live!" is usually followed by him stating the point spread within 30 seconds (as it is in MSU OSU 1998, posted above). Then, he will scream at the top of his lungs when his team does well, and grow silent when they fuck up. He will allude to his misfortunes with phrases such as "We thought it would be a bit higher scoring," or show his excitement when a team scores and he has the over, as he did in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl: "Get your adding machines out," or prematurely say the Ginn is going to take it to the house, when he then has to outmaneuver four defenders. (the adding machines quote got cut off, but it occured at :15 in that clip, right after he said 'here we go'). I tried to point out every time he did a game in my clips above, but I probably missed some. IF it wasnt enough, theres this exuberance over OSU winning, and him winning a bet.

He doesnt hide the fact that Jenn Sterger is hot, doesnt know how to pronounce Beyonce, he wears V-Neck sweaters when he announces basketball with Bob KNight (which is the equivalent of Costanza turning his hat backwards after Tony does it in the Seinfeld episode where Costanza has a man crush on Tony), and, like anyone else, he hates hippies.

If that all wasnt enough, know that I have his action figure. And theres a drinking game dedicated to him. Finally, I probably could have summed this whole section up by this.

1.................................

No clips. No articles. No links.

To me, there is nothing greater than a Saturday afternoon in October in the Midwest. The leaves are turning Brown and Orange, the average temperature is 45 degrees, and it is grey overcast skies all day. The hyped up, marquee 2:30 CST games begin without the aid of artificial lights, and proceed to determine which teams will remain in a championship race, and which will have their hopes crushed. By the end of third quarter, beginning of the fourth, the greatest thing happens. Somehow, every week, without fail, it seems to go from light to dark in a matter of mere minutes. The telecast returns from the commercial break. They show an aerial shot of the stadium to start the fourth quarter. It is completely dark. The lights are on. When they come back to field level, we see that the lights are reflecting off the Golden Helmets of Notre Dame, or we can see the sparkles in the Grey Helmets of Ohio State. Michigan travels to Iowa and starts under the sun of the Iowa Plains, but finishes under the lights of Kinnick Stadium. South Carolina goes between the hedges on a typical sunny day in Georgia, and they finish three hours later under the lights, both dirtied, muddied, battered, bloodied, and exhausted. The list of such examples is too plentiful to go through now, but there are plenty of examples from the above list alone. Go back and watch the USC ND 05 game, for starters. Or Michigan NW 2000, or Kordell Stewarts Hail Mary, or Florida Tenn 01, or Ark Tenn 98, or Michigan MSU 90, or Clockgate, etc, etc, etc.

Nothing can match this, and it is something that can never be taken away. Even as ESPN and ABC continue to move more and more games to Primetime, there will always be the 2:30 CST start time for games. Auburn, Georgia, and Florida will continue to host them, as will Ohio State, Michigan, and Iowa. My hope is that while a ND USC, or ND Michigan night game will be cool, that ND doesnt move too many games to the night.

Living on Pacific time creates some opportunities for sports viewing, and takes away others. I dont mind getting up at 9 AM to watch games. While I enjoy that all games are done by 8-9 PM, and I can then go out, I miss that some games go to midnight and beyond. Without that, there would be no "no penalties, no penalties, yes," or as Canna pointed out, the Boise State Nevada game from 2010 would be exponentially more cool if we were two hours drunker.

All of those positive and negatives pale in comparison to the scenario I described above though. We don't have seasons out here. I have to look at a calendar to know its Mid-October. There are no 2:30 PST start times, and if there were, it would still be sunny out when the games ended. As good as Oregon, USC, Utah, BYU, Boise, or any other west coast team may ever be, their games cant match the games from the Midwest and Southeast. I cant fully experience the 230 CST start time games anymore, since Im watching them in a 70 degree, sun-lit apartment at 1230 PM. But I will continue to watch. Forever, I will watch. And every time I watch a game played out in the Midwest, or the Southeast, I will think of the previous 68 things I listed in this post, and I will be happy.