20 Greatest Bowl Games Of All-Time

[Texas Jefe]

By the way, I do think Neb/Miami is the only game that I think rivals the USC/Texas game. That was easily one of the best bowls games I have ever watched. Might have been a bit bigger, as it was the little engine that could going against Goliath. People forget that was pretty much the coming out party for the roll the state of Florida would play in CFB. I would not be upset if that was #1. In the end this is an opinion poll.

This was indeed a huge game. I actually listened to it on the radio, driving back to Austin from the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, where just watched Texas lose a heartbreaking game at the end, and thus since ranked no.2, lost a chance for a NC with the Miami upset.

That Orange bowl was huge, in that it really shook up the status-quo of the college football landscape. Plus, it was even great on the radio.

 

[Irish7478]

Best bowl game I ever saw was the 1973 Sugar Bowl. #3 rated Notre Dame beat #1 rated Alabama 24-23, to win the National Championship.

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Texan Writer or not, the TEXAS/USC game is almost universally accepted as the greatest bowl game of all time.

It is crazy when you look back at all the things that game had going for it before kickoff:

Both teams were the pre-season #1 and #2.
Both teams spent every second of the offseason and regular season as #1 and #2.
Both teams had a #1 and #2 finish in the Heisman Trophy.
The game was played at the best bowl venue, the rose bowl.
2 time champion USC was on a 34 game win streak.
Both teams were super glitzy big ego programs. There was no blue collar hardworking vibe.
It was promotion and spectacle like we usually get for a Tyson fight at Mandalay Bay.
More Hollywood movie stars attended that game than probably any other in the last 40 years.
It involved the two biggest population states in the union and their ridiculous TV markets.


And, despite all the insane hype and silliness, the game actually was better than anything the hype could have imagined. It might be another 50 years before we get a "perfect storm" of HYPE and SUBSTANCE like that game.

 

[trojanfan12]

Texan Writer or not, the TEXAS/USC game is almost universally accepted as the greatest bowl game of all time.

It is crazy when you look back at all the things that game had going for it before kickoff:

Both teams were the pre-season #1 and #2.
Both teams spent every second of the offseason and regular season as #1 and #2.
Both teams had a #1 and #2 finish in the Heisman Trophy.
The game was played at the best bowl venue, the rose bowl.
2 time champion USC was on a 34 game win streak.
Both teams were super glitzy big ego programs. There was no blue collar hardworking vibe.
It was promotion and spectacle like we usually get for a Tyson fight at Mandalay Bay.
More Hollywood movie stars attended that game than probably any other in the last 40 years.
It involved the two biggest population states in the union and their ridiculous TV markets.


And, despite all the insane hype and silliness, the game actually was better than anything the hype could have imagined. It might be another 50 years before we get a "perfect storm" of HYPE and SUBSTANCE like that game.

Yep, as much as I wanted my Trojans to win, it was such an incredible game that I wasn't really upset that we lost.


I wanted to be upset, but I just kept thinking what an amazing game I just saw.

 

[HuskerOC]

This was indeed a huge game. I actually listened to it on the radio, driving back to Austin from the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, where just watched Texas lose a heartbreaking game at the end, and thus since ranked no.2, lost a chance for a NC with the Miami upset.

That Orange bowl was huge, in that it really shook up the status-quo of the college football landscape. Plus, it was even great on the radio.

Unfortunately my Huskers had a big hand in the rise of college football in Florida.

Not only did we lose the 1984 Orange Bowl as 17 1/2 point favorites, but also lost a game to Florida State in 1980 to really put that program on the map. That continued in the 1988 Fiesta Bowl (1987 season) in which we shat the bed yet again in a big bowl game.

It was 1987 that was the most critical year of current day football.

Miami and Florida State played one of many forthcoming classics that year. It was the start of "Wide Left" and then Miami went on to beat #1 Oklahoma in the Orange, and Florida State beat Nebraska in the Fiesta.

Both great games, but what really happened was the true establishment of Miami and Florida State as big time powers in college football. Jimmy Johnson and Bobby Bowden changed the entire complexion of college football that year. Speed, speed, speed and more speed. Athletes in space and 4-3 attacking defenses that got after people.

Football at the college and Pro level has never been the same since then in my opinion.

 

[MarkOU]

I give that list a 6/10.

 

[Blackshirt]

Not really. After Frazier completed that pass to your TE, the clock expired and the game was over. I even remember the FSU players giving Bowden the Gatorade shower b/c everybody thought the game was over. HOWEVER, the refs ruled that your TE was down before the game clock expired and added :01 to the clock and gave NU a chance to kick a FG for the victory. Just out of curiosity, were you Corn Fuckers bitchin and crying when the ref added another second? Of course not. Fucking hypocrites.....

Shouldn't have even came down to that. There was a phantom flag on a punt return TD that would've put us ahead late in the game and we wouldn't have even needed that last drive. Refs jobbed us.

 

[Innermind]

I love watching some of these old games on BTN. Last week on BTN I watched the broadcast of the #18 game on this list , the 2000 Orange Bowl (Michigan 35, Alabama 34 (OT)), and just a couple days ago I watched their broadcast of the #15 game on this list, the 2005 Capital One Bowl (Iowa 30, LSU 25).

 

[pennstatenut]

Dude is stupid. He acts like the Penn State loss to Bama in the Sugar Bowl doesn't count because of Sandusky.

 

[The Crimson King]

Last year's championship game would be added to the list

 

[potzer25]

screw the '84 Orange Bowl. Stupid Osborne...

 

[BigRedMoe]

screw the '84 Orange Bowl. Stupid Osborne...

 

[sooner78wakeboard]

Damn that Boise State game, it will never go away. It's like if you go out with your buddies drinking, and even though you may have a 7 figure job, a hot wife and a vacation home in Aspen. They still bring up, "remember that time you banged that fat chick" and your like....

As for the LSU game, still think the Sooners ran out of time on that one. OU's defense stepped up in the second half and the offense White was pretty much a walking cripple, with two bad knees and blown out elbow. I still remember that INT that was ran back for a TD in the 3rd quarter. Personally, I think if that game had been played someone else other than in LSU's backyard with all their dirtball fans, it would have gone in OU's favor.

 

[Codaxx]

screw the '84 Orange Bowl. Stupid Osborne...

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People forget that game ended on a 2 pt conversion attempt. There was no overtime back then. Osborne ties it and Nebraska is probably the NC. Would have been one of the worst ending of a season ever. Even after the loss Nebraska was voted #2 in both polls. Might be the ballsiest call on a football field ever. Pat Dye wouldnt have gone for 2.