In a matter of hours, either the Indiana Hoosiers will have won their first college football national championship in program history, or the Miami Hurricanes will have returned to the top of the heap for the sixth time.
And while recent editions of the national championship game have been somewhat of a dud, with the outcome rarely in doubt late in the fourth quarter, that isn’t always the case.
In fact, the 21st century has provided college football fans with a number of memorable moments, particularly since the start of the College Football Playoff Era.
In this article, we’re taking a look back at those moments, some of which you may well have forgotten about. While others, for better or worse, some fans will never be able to forget.
Top College Football National Championship Game Moments
From 2000-2013, the participants in the national championship game were decided by the BCS, leading to plenty of controversy. Particularly in the 2004 season, when the Auburn Tigers went 12-0 but were left out in favor of Oklahoma and USC.
The Trojans went on to dominate the Sooners, 55-19, while the Tigers claimed a share of the national championship after beating Virginia Tech, 16-13, in the Sugar Bowl.
But the BCS Era also had a number of fantastic national championship games, four of which are included on this list.
2003: Controversial Pass Interference Call Lifts Ohio State Past Miami
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFpTkYMLzdc
After an undefeated 2001 season ended with a dominant victory over Nebraska in the Rose Bowl and a national championship, the Miami Hurricanes entered the 2002 season as heavy favorites to repeat.
The ‘Canes rolled through the regular season, with just two victories by single digits, including a 1-point win over in-state rival Florida State.
That sent to the Fiesta Bowl, which served as that season’s BCS National Championship Game, against Ohio State, whose suffocating defense led it to a perfect record in the Big Ten, including narrow victories over Cincinnati, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
The Buckeyes took a 17-7 lead midway through the third quarter on a 44-yard field goal by Mike Nugent. But Miami came back to tie it with a 9-yard touchdown by Willis McGahee and a 40-yard Mike Sievers kick.
In the first overtime, the Hurricanes got the ball first and took a 24-17 lead after a Kellen Winslow Jr. touchdown catch.
Facing 4th-and-3 from the 5-yard line, Ohio State quarterback Craig Krenzel threw a fade to Chris Gamble that fell incomplete. However, after a couple of seconds, a flag flew for pass interference on Miami’s Glen Sharpe.
Craig Krenzel then tied the game on a QB sneak, and in the second overtime, Maurice Clarett gave OSU the lead with a 5-yard touchdown run. Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey’s 4th-and-goal pass then felt incomplete on their possession, and the Buckeyes claimed their first outright national title since 1968…in controversial fashion.
Miami has not won since, while Ohio State has added a pair of national championships, including last season.
2006: Vince Young Scrambles For Immortality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeiXFtkGp2s
There was no controversy over the two best teams in college football in the 2005 season.
The USC Trojans, fresh off a perfect season and a national title the year prior, yet again ran the table, led by Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush.
Meanwhile, Texas, in search of its first national title since 1969, went undefeated in the Big 12, led by superstar quarterback Vince Young, who finished as the runner-up to Bush for the Heisman.
The two teams met in the 2006 Rose Bowl with a national championship on the line and put on one of the best games in college football history.
The Trojans entered the fourth quarter with a 24-23 lead and extended it with a 26-yard run from Bush with 11:19 left to play. After a Longhorns field goal, a 22-yard touchdown pass from Matt Leinart to Dwayne Jarrett put USC ahead 38-26 and in control with 6:42 to play.
But Young struck back, needing just two minutes and 33 seconds to cut the lead to 38-33 with a 17-yard touchdown run.
He and the Texas offense then got the ball back with 2:09 left on the clock, needing to go 56 yards for the score. They did just that, capped by a remarkable 8-yard scramble by Young on 4th-and-5 to put Texas ahead with just 19 seconds remaining.
The Longhorns added a 2-point conversion and hung on to win, 41-38, in what a number of people will argue was the greatest national championship game ever played.
2011: Michael Dyer Somehow Stays On His Feet, Breaking Oregon Hearts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdEZrJYXhVM
The Oregon Ducks, backed by megadonor and Nike founder Phil Knight, are one of the preeminent programs in college football today.
Knight has pumped seemingly endless amounts of money into his alma mater in search of a national championship.
Well, in 2011, they nearly had one.
After going 12-0 and winning the Pac-12, the Ducks and their high-powered offense met 13-0 Auburn, led by Cam Newton, in the BCS National Championship Game.
In somewhat of a surprisingly low-scoring contest, the two teams found themselves locked at 19-19 with 2:06 to play and the Tigers facing 1st-and-10 at their own 40-yard line.
Newton took the snap and handed the ball to star freshman running back Michael Dyer, who was seemingly tackled for a 5-yard gain. Everyone appeared to stop moving, but no whistle blew. Dyer then began running again before being pushed out at the Oregon 23-yard line.
Upon further review, Dyer rolled onto the body of Ducks’ safety Eddie Pleasant, and no body part beyond his hands and feet contacted the ground. Auburn then ran the clock down, and kicker Wes Byrum hit a walkoff 19-yard field goal to win the national championship.
2014: Jameis Winston Finds Kelvin Benjamin To Return Florida State To Glory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYcxF7Fs0sI
In his 34 seasons at Florida State, legendary head coach Bobby Bowden turned the Seminoles into a national powerhouse, winning a pair of national championships along the way.
But Bowden’s results tailed off late in his career, and he retired following the 2009 season, leaving the head coaching job to offensive coordinator and protege Jimbo Fisher. In 2014, Fisher led the Seminoles back to the national championship game for the first time in 14 years, thanks in large part to superstar redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston, who became just the second freshman to win the Heisman, following Johnny Manziel the year prior.
On the other side were the Auburn Tigers, who were 12-1 and won the SEC thanks in large part to a pair of miracle victories over Georgia and Alabama.
In the 2014 national championship game, Auburn raced out to a 21-3 lead. But the Seminoles cut it to 21-10 at halftime and continued to chip away. A 100-yard kick return by Kermit Whitfield with 4:31 left in the fourth quarter gave Florida State its first lead of the game at 27-24.
But the Tigers fought back, and a Jordan Mason 37-yard touchdown run put them back on top with just 1:19 remaining.
However, Winston remained unfazed. He methodically led the ‘Noles on a seven-play, 80-yard drive, capped by a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with just 13 seconds remaining to give Florida State the win and the national championship in the final game of the BCS Era.
2017: Hunter Renfrow Scores With 1 Second Remaining To Lift Clemson Over Alabama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IVRNumSofg
By 2017, Nick Saban had long established Alabama as the team to beat in college football. Saban and the Crimson Tide won four of the last eight national championships, including a 45-40 victory over the Clemson Tigers the year prior.
But Dabo Swinney, an Alabama alum, had the Tigers humming as well.
Clemson had won double-digit games every year since 2011 and nearly toppled the tide the year prior.
This time around, the two teams went blow for blow.
Alabama jumped out to a 14-0 lead on a pair of Bo Scarbrough touchdown runs. But Deshaun Watson cut the lead to 14-7 at halftime with an 8-yard run of his own. After a Bama field goal to open the second half, Watson then hit Hunter Renfrow from 24 yards out to cut the lead to 24-14.
But again, Alabama answered, as Jalen Hurts his O.J. Howard for a 68-yard score.
After a 4-yard Mike Williams touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter cut the lead again, the Tigers took their first lead of the game with 4:38 remaining on a Wayne Gallman 1-yard run.
The Tide, yet again, had an answer. This time, through Hurts’ legs, with a 30-yard touchdown run to go ahead 31-28 with 2:07 to play.
But Clemson wouldn’t be denied. The Tigers marched down the field 68 yards on nine plays, and Watson again found Renfrow, this time from 2 yards out with just one second remaining to give Clemson the 35-31 victory and give Swinney the first of two national championships.
2018: True Freshmen Tua Tagovailoa and DeVonta Smith Break Georgia’s Heart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFpmYE4XOO0
It’s hard to keep a good man down.
One year after the heartbreaking loss to Clemson, Saban and Alabama were back in the national championship game, this time against SEC rival Georgia.
The Crimson Tide snuck into the College Football Playoff at 11-1 after losing its final game of the regular season in the Iron Bowl to Auburn. They entered conference championship week ranked fifth, but moved up to No. 4 only after previously unbeaten Wisconsin lost to Ohio State in the Big Ten title game.
Meanwhile, Georgia grabbed the third seed after going 12-1 and winning the SEC Title game over aforementioned Auburn, avenging a 40-17 drubbing in the regular season in the process.
The Bulldogs reached the championship game with a miraculous 54-48 double-overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. While the Crimson Tide got some payback on top-seeded Clemson with 24-6 victory in the Sugar Bowl.
In the national championship game, the Bulldogs led 13-0 after half when Saban made the gutsy call to bench starting quarterback Jalen Hurts for true freshman Tua Tagovailoa.
The decision paid off.
Tagovailoa led Alabama to 20 second-half points, and the Crimson Tide defense hunkered down, sending the game to overtime at 20-20.
Bama won the coin toss and forced Georgia into a 51-yard field goal by Rodrigo Blankenship in the first overtime to make it 23-20.
After a sack on the first play of their possession, the Tide faced 2nd-and-26 from the 41-yard line. Tagovailoa dropped back and slung it deep, finding fellow true freshman DeVonta Smith, who somehow got behind the defense for a 41-yard walkoff touchdown.
2022: Kelee Ringo’s Pick Six Helps Kirby Smart And Georgia Get Their Revenge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sFyHuYaV9A
While Georgia lost a heartbreaker in 2018, the season as a whole was considered a significant success in just the second year under head coach Kirby Smart.
Smart’s Bulldogs missed the playoffs in the next three years, but remained very much a threat to the rest of the college football world.
In the 2021 season, they went 12-0 in the regular season, blowing out everyone except for a 10-3 victory over Clemson in the opening week of the season.
Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide went 11-1 to set up an SEC Championship Game showdown that saw Alabama come out on top yet again, 41-24, to claim the top seed in the playoffs. But the Bulldogs fell just to number three, keeping their title hopes alive.
Both teams rolled in the semifinals, with Alabama dispatching Cincinnati, 27-6, and Georgia steamrolling Michigan, 34-11, to set up a much-anticipated rematch.
A nervy first-half saw Alabama take a 9-6 lead into the half. But a late-third-quarter touchdown run by Zamir White put Georgia on top 13-9.
The Tide regained the lead after a Will Reichard 21-yard field goal and a Cameron Latu touchdown pass from Bryce Young, but a failed 2-point conversion made it just 18-13 with 10:14 to play.
Stetson Bennett then gave the Bulldogs the lead back with a 40-yard pass to Adonai Mitchell. But Georgia also failed on its 2-point conversion attempt, making the score 19-18 with 8:09 remaining.
The Bulldogs kept pushing, however, and Bennett made it a 26-18 lead when he hit Brock Bowers for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 3:33 left on the clock.
With time winding down, Young marched the Crimson Tide into Georgia territory. But on 3rd-and-10 from the Bulldogs’ 44-yard line with 1:09 remaining, he dropped back to pass and underthrew wide receiver Traeshon Holden, allowing Georgia corner Kelee Ringo to pick the ball off and return it 79 yards for a touchdown, sealing the program’s first national championship in 41 years.
The post Counting Down The Top College Football National Championship Game Moments Of The 21st Century appeared first on BroBible.
