- Thread starter
- #1
BucksFanInGA
Well-Known Member
- 3,215
- 43
- 48
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2012
- Location
- SEC Land
- Hoopla Cash
- $ 1,000.00
- Fav. Team #1
- Fav. Team #2
- Fav. Team #3
From Reddit: End of the BCS Era: Ranking the Top 20 BCS Games : CFB
So, since we're now done with the BCS era, figured it was a good time to go all retrospective on it. A friend of mine's doing the Top 25 Teams of the BCS Era later. Here now, my personal Top 20 BCS Bowl Games.
#20. 2010-11 Sugar Bowl. Ohio State 31, Arkansas 26. Forever branded in my mind as the Ryan Mallett game.
#19. 2013-14 Orange Bowl. Clemson 40, Ohio State 35. Incredibly recent...and incredibly fun to watch.
#18. 2007-08 Orange Bowl. Kansas 24, Virginia Tech 21. Such a weird season. I recall this game being better than any of the others from that year...such a weird year.
#17. 2008-09 Sugar Bowl. Utah 31, Alabama 17. One of the most impressive performances I remember seeing in the BCS era. That Utah team still manages to be a little underrated.
#16. 2011-12 Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma State 41, Stanford 38 (OT). Andrew Luck's last college football game, and a more interesting game to watch than the NCG that year was.
#15. 1999-00 Orange Bowl. Michigan 35, Alabama 34 (OT). A Tom Brady-led Michigan team plays its first overtime game in program history, and wins on a missed Alabama PAT.
#14. 2003-04 Orange Bowl. Miami 16, Florida State 14. A Miami-Florida State game that ends with Florida State going Wide Right? Stop me if you've heard that before...whoever had the idea to make this the Orange Bowl game that year was a genius.
#13. 2013-14 Rose Bowl. Michigan State 24, Stanford 20. One of the more impressive traditional Rose Bowl matchups we've seen in recent years. A fantastic showing by Sparty.
#12. 2008-09 Fiesta Bowl. Texas 24, Ohio State 21. Texas wins on a late touchdown from Colt McCoy to Quan Cosby. Such a bright indicator of things to come...alas.
#11. 2005-06 Sugar Bowl. West Virginia 38, Georgia 35. The forgotten game of this year. Played in the Georgia Dome due to Katrina making the Superdome unavailable, this game just felt different. It was the coming-out party for the Pat White/Steve Slaton/RichRod West Virginia squads, against a now-lost-to-time Georgia team with DJ Shockley. And the best fake punt ever[1] .
#10. 2009-10 Fiesta Bowl. Boise State 17, TCU 10. A matchup that should never have happened, it nonetheless was entertaining. Possibly too high due to personal bias (I grew up about ten minutes from TCU), but another great entry in Boise State BCS adventures.
#9. 1998-99 Fiesta Bowl. Tennessee 23, Florida State 19. Tee Martin! Peerless Price! Chris Weinke's Florida State! This game had just about everything. Great cap to the first year of the BCS.
#8. 2005-06 Orange Bowl. Penn State 26, Florida State 23 (3OT) Joe Paterno's resurrection of a seemingly moribund Penn State team, facing off against the man closest to him in all-time wins at the time. And it went 3OTs. A surprisingly entertaining game, for one that could have been called the AARP Geriatric Bowl (especially since it went past both coaches' bedtimes).
#7. 2010-11 Rose Bowl. TCU 21, Wisconsin 19. While Boise State showed that the non-AQ's could play everyone, and Utah showed that the non-AQ's could beat the best, I really feel like this TCU squad was the one that showed that teams like it would always be around. Impressive games from both Andy Dalton (!) and Tank Carder (!!!) to seal a great victory for a school whose football program was practically dead 20 years before.
#6. 2010-11 National Championship Game. Auburn 22, Oregon 19. The first Oregon team to finally break through to the NCG. An Auburn team we didn't expect to see like this again (for a while, anyway). The first National Championship Game on ESPN (rather than over-the-air networks). Impressive performances by the Heisman winner, and Nick Fairley, concluding on a last-second field goal Brent described as "for all the Tostitos" in one of the most impressively bald-faced product placements I've ever heard.
#5. 2004-05 Rose Bowl. Texas 38, Michigan 37. Y'all might have forgotten about this one. Texas was a team no one expected to see in the Rose Bowl (most everyone [me included] was expecting Cal). An impressive game, and fantastic coming-out party for Vince Young, culminating in the best career-capping field goal a kicker who started as a walk-on could hope for[2] . (sorry for the low quality; best quality of the TV feed I could find)
#4. 2002-03 Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2OT). One of the most impressive Miami squads there's been. A surprisingly good underdog story Ohio State team. Bad officiating. Two overtimes. All in all, most everything you could ask for in a national championship game.
#3. 2013-14 National Championship Game. Florida State 34, Auburn 31. Shades of #1 on the list. An impressive comeback by the Heisman Trophy winner, after a first half that was dominated by the Cinderella story of the year.
#2. 2006-07 Fiesta Bowl. Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (OT). Decent argument for #1, this one gets bumped to #2 due to relative importance in the bowls. Really though...a Boise State team that dominates the first half, Oklahoma comes back to take the lead, then Boise ties it on a hook-and-lateral on FOURTH AND 18!!![3] And that wasn't the second most ridiculous[4] play, much less the most ridiculous[5] play. The whole game's on YouTube, if that interests you.
#1. 2005-06 Rose Bowl. Texas 41, USC 38. More surprising: how this game went, or that neither quarterback involved in in football eight years alter? Biggest stage, a USC team that was regarded by many as one of the best ever, and then...Vince. Things you might not remember from this game: Vince's pitch from a knee. Or Dan Fouts making quidditch references with regards to Reggie Bush. The whole thing's on YouTube in HD. Enjoy.
Your thoughts? I kinda want to make this a power rankings-type thing, get multiple people's input. Those are my thoughts...interested in hearing y'all's thoughts on which games I have too high, and which ones I unfairly left out.
So, since we're now done with the BCS era, figured it was a good time to go all retrospective on it. A friend of mine's doing the Top 25 Teams of the BCS Era later. Here now, my personal Top 20 BCS Bowl Games.
#20. 2010-11 Sugar Bowl. Ohio State 31, Arkansas 26. Forever branded in my mind as the Ryan Mallett game.
#19. 2013-14 Orange Bowl. Clemson 40, Ohio State 35. Incredibly recent...and incredibly fun to watch.
#18. 2007-08 Orange Bowl. Kansas 24, Virginia Tech 21. Such a weird season. I recall this game being better than any of the others from that year...such a weird year.
#17. 2008-09 Sugar Bowl. Utah 31, Alabama 17. One of the most impressive performances I remember seeing in the BCS era. That Utah team still manages to be a little underrated.
#16. 2011-12 Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma State 41, Stanford 38 (OT). Andrew Luck's last college football game, and a more interesting game to watch than the NCG that year was.
#15. 1999-00 Orange Bowl. Michigan 35, Alabama 34 (OT). A Tom Brady-led Michigan team plays its first overtime game in program history, and wins on a missed Alabama PAT.
#14. 2003-04 Orange Bowl. Miami 16, Florida State 14. A Miami-Florida State game that ends with Florida State going Wide Right? Stop me if you've heard that before...whoever had the idea to make this the Orange Bowl game that year was a genius.
#13. 2013-14 Rose Bowl. Michigan State 24, Stanford 20. One of the more impressive traditional Rose Bowl matchups we've seen in recent years. A fantastic showing by Sparty.
#12. 2008-09 Fiesta Bowl. Texas 24, Ohio State 21. Texas wins on a late touchdown from Colt McCoy to Quan Cosby. Such a bright indicator of things to come...alas.
#11. 2005-06 Sugar Bowl. West Virginia 38, Georgia 35. The forgotten game of this year. Played in the Georgia Dome due to Katrina making the Superdome unavailable, this game just felt different. It was the coming-out party for the Pat White/Steve Slaton/RichRod West Virginia squads, against a now-lost-to-time Georgia team with DJ Shockley. And the best fake punt ever[1] .
#10. 2009-10 Fiesta Bowl. Boise State 17, TCU 10. A matchup that should never have happened, it nonetheless was entertaining. Possibly too high due to personal bias (I grew up about ten minutes from TCU), but another great entry in Boise State BCS adventures.
#9. 1998-99 Fiesta Bowl. Tennessee 23, Florida State 19. Tee Martin! Peerless Price! Chris Weinke's Florida State! This game had just about everything. Great cap to the first year of the BCS.
#8. 2005-06 Orange Bowl. Penn State 26, Florida State 23 (3OT) Joe Paterno's resurrection of a seemingly moribund Penn State team, facing off against the man closest to him in all-time wins at the time. And it went 3OTs. A surprisingly entertaining game, for one that could have been called the AARP Geriatric Bowl (especially since it went past both coaches' bedtimes).
#7. 2010-11 Rose Bowl. TCU 21, Wisconsin 19. While Boise State showed that the non-AQ's could play everyone, and Utah showed that the non-AQ's could beat the best, I really feel like this TCU squad was the one that showed that teams like it would always be around. Impressive games from both Andy Dalton (!) and Tank Carder (!!!) to seal a great victory for a school whose football program was practically dead 20 years before.
#6. 2010-11 National Championship Game. Auburn 22, Oregon 19. The first Oregon team to finally break through to the NCG. An Auburn team we didn't expect to see like this again (for a while, anyway). The first National Championship Game on ESPN (rather than over-the-air networks). Impressive performances by the Heisman winner, and Nick Fairley, concluding on a last-second field goal Brent described as "for all the Tostitos" in one of the most impressively bald-faced product placements I've ever heard.
#5. 2004-05 Rose Bowl. Texas 38, Michigan 37. Y'all might have forgotten about this one. Texas was a team no one expected to see in the Rose Bowl (most everyone [me included] was expecting Cal). An impressive game, and fantastic coming-out party for Vince Young, culminating in the best career-capping field goal a kicker who started as a walk-on could hope for[2] . (sorry for the low quality; best quality of the TV feed I could find)
#4. 2002-03 Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2OT). One of the most impressive Miami squads there's been. A surprisingly good underdog story Ohio State team. Bad officiating. Two overtimes. All in all, most everything you could ask for in a national championship game.
#3. 2013-14 National Championship Game. Florida State 34, Auburn 31. Shades of #1 on the list. An impressive comeback by the Heisman Trophy winner, after a first half that was dominated by the Cinderella story of the year.
#2. 2006-07 Fiesta Bowl. Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (OT). Decent argument for #1, this one gets bumped to #2 due to relative importance in the bowls. Really though...a Boise State team that dominates the first half, Oklahoma comes back to take the lead, then Boise ties it on a hook-and-lateral on FOURTH AND 18!!![3] And that wasn't the second most ridiculous[4] play, much less the most ridiculous[5] play. The whole game's on YouTube, if that interests you.
#1. 2005-06 Rose Bowl. Texas 41, USC 38. More surprising: how this game went, or that neither quarterback involved in in football eight years alter? Biggest stage, a USC team that was regarded by many as one of the best ever, and then...Vince. Things you might not remember from this game: Vince's pitch from a knee. Or Dan Fouts making quidditch references with regards to Reggie Bush. The whole thing's on YouTube in HD. Enjoy.
Your thoughts? I kinda want to make this a power rankings-type thing, get multiple people's input. Those are my thoughts...interested in hearing y'all's thoughts on which games I have too high, and which ones I unfairly left out.
!
