14 Most Devastating Near Misses of the BCS Era

Before everyone prances around chanting “Ding Dong, the BCS is dead!”—it’s key to remember that there are still six weeks between now and the finally final BCS rankings.

Though the end is near, it’s not over yet.

And that can only mean one thing…somebody is about to get screwed out of a chance to play for a national championship.

Yes, friend, the common thread that can be found in the tapestry of the BCS scheme is controversy. 

To celebrate what’s been the fabric of football since 1998, it seems fitting, nay necessary, to celebrate those who have fallen victim to the grand ole’ Bowl Championship Series.

“Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, not in a five-game college football showcase.”

Stats courtesy of Sports Reference College Football, ESPN and College Football Statistics.  Historic BCS rankings courtesy of College Football Poll.

14. 2009: Alabama Gets Revenge on Florida in the SEC Championship

After knocking Alabama out of the national championship in 2008, No. 1 Florida got the tables turned on it in a 32-13 loss to the No. 2 Crimson Tide in the 2009 SEC title game.

Florida’s attempt to comeback from a 32-13 deficit in the fourth quarter was dashed when a Tim Tebow pass was picked off by Javier Arenas on a Florida 1st-and-goal from the Alabama 6-yard line.

Alabama jumped to No. 1 and went on to beat No. 2 Texas 37-21 in the BCS championship, while the No. 5 Gators destroyed No. 3 Cincinnati 51-24 in the Sugar Bowl.

13. 2008: Alabama Falls Short in the SEC Championship

Before rolling to three national titles in four years, the Crimson Tide missed the BCS championship boat by 19 points in 2008.

Alabama was ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings coming into its showdown with No. 4 Florida in the 2008 SEC title game and fell hard.

After scoring 10-unanswered points in the third the Tide trailed by just four, but two Gator touchdowns in the final period sealed Alabama’s fate 31-20.

Florida jumped to No. 2 in the final BCS rankings and beat No. 1 Oklahoma 24-14 in the national championship.

Alabama dropped to No. 4 and went on to suffer a shocking 31-17 defeat to No. 6 Utah in the Sugar Bowl.

12. 2012: Stanford Edges Oregon

Oregon was ranked No. 1 in the nation when it hosted No. 14 Stanford on Nov. 17, 2012, needing only three wins to return to the BCS title game.

Despite committing three turnovers, Stanford tied up the game on a 10-yard Kevin Hogan pass to Zach Ertz with just over a minute remaining.  This made the score 14-14 and pushed the game into overtime.

The Ducks missed a 41-yard field goal on their first possession in overtime, setting up Stanford kicker Jordan Williamson’s 37-yard field goal to win the game.

Oregon finished the season 11-1 and ranked No. 5 in the BCS, clobbering No. 7 Kansas State 35-17 in the Fiesta Bowl.

The two undefeated teams in 2012, Alabama and Notre Dame, squared off for the national championship with the Crimson Tide stomping the Irish 42-14.

11. 2007: Missouri’s Run Ends in the Big 12 Championship

Prior to 2007, Missouri had last reached double-digits in 1960, when Dan Devine led the Tigers to a 10-0 record, a Big Eight title and a victory over Navy in the Orange Bowl.

Speeding ahead 47 years, No. 1 ranked Missouri was 11-1 and one game away from its first conference championship since 1969 and a place in the BCS title game.

The opponent was No. 9 Oklahoma and the venue was the Big 12 championship game in San Antonio, Texas.

The Tigers fought the Sooners to a 14-14 tie at half, but fell apart after Oklahoma scored late in the third and then turned a Chase Daniel interception into another score less than a minute later.

The final score was 38-17 Oklahoma, resulting in Mizzou dropping to No. 6 in the final BCS rankings.

10. 2003: One-Loss USC Gets Overlooked

In a decision that came down to which one-loss team deserved the national championship nod, USC got the short end of the BCS stick.

The three programs involved at the 2003 controversy were 11-1 USC, 12-1 LSU and 12-1 Oklahoma.

The Trojans’ single loss was a 34-31 triple-overtime defeat at unranked Cal on Sept. 27. Oklahoma had just dropped the Big 12 title game 35-7 to No. 13 K-State on Dec. 6 and LSU fell 19-7 to unranked Florida on Oct. 11. 

The final BCS rankings put the Sooners at No. 1, the Tigers at No. 2 and USC at No. 3.

LSU went on to beat Oklahoma 21-14 in the national title game, while USC beat No. 4 Michigan 28-14 in the Rose Bowl.

Despite getting snubbed by the BCS, the 2003 Trojans were declared national champions by both the AP and the Football Writers Association of America.

The split decision marks the only shared national title in the BCS era.

9. 2012: Baylor Blasts K-State

With unranked Baylor and No. 23 Texas standing between No. 2 K-State and a BCS title game berth, the Wildcats swaggered into Waco only to leave with one of the most shocking upsets of the season.

Baylor hung up 580 yards on a K-State defense that had given up an average of 376 yards in 2012. If that weren’t enough, the Bears picked Wildcat quarterback Collin Klein—who had thrown only six interceptions all season—three times.

Baylor destroyed Kansas State 52-24, relegating the Big 12 Co-Champs to the Fiesta Bowl, where it lost to No. 5 Oregon 35-17.

Alabama and Notre Dame wound up playing for all the marbles with the Tide triumphing 42-14.

8. 2008: Penn State Falls One-Point Short of Perfection

Penn State was ranked No. 3 in the nation coming into its Nov. 8, 2008 game at unranked Iowa.  The Nittany Lions needed a win over the 5-4 Hawkeyes and victories over Indiana and Michigan State to seal the deal on the national title game.

Penn State held on a 23-14 advantage after three quarters only to let Iowa back in the game with 10- unanswered points in the fourth.  The game ended with Iowa kicker Daniel Murray booting a 31-yard field goal as time expired.

The final score was 24-23 and Penn State finished the season 11-1 and ranked No. 8 in the final BCS standings.  Rather than playing for a national title, the Nittany Lions lost to USC 38-24 in the Rose Bowl.

Florida and Oklahoma (both one-loss teams) squared off for the BCS crown, with the Gators winning the big enchilada 24-14.

7. 2011: Oklahoma State Gets Shocked by Iowa State

Perhaps looking ahead to its finale with top-ranked Oklahoma, No. 2 Oklahoma State travelled to Ames to face 5-4 Iowa State on Nov. 18, 2011 and returned home with a devastating loss.

The score was tied up 24-24 with two minutes left to go when Cowboy kicker Quinn Sharp missed a 37-yard field goal attempt that would have sent Oklahoma State to the BCS championship.

Instead, the game extended into double-overtime, where Cowboy quarterback Brandon Weeden got picked by Ter’Ran Benton on the first play of the second extra period.

This led to a 4-yard Jeff Woody touchdown and an improbable 37-31 Iowa State victory.

The loss cost the Cowboys their edge in the BCS standings and despite a 44-10 blowout win over the No. 12 Sooners the next week, they dropped to No. 3 in the final BCS standings.

This propelled 11-1 Alabama to the No. 2 spot setting up the controversial all-SEC West title game with LSU.

The Crimson Tide won 21-0 and Oklahoma State rebounded with a thrilling 41-28 win over No. 4 Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl.

6. 1998: UCLA Gets Outscored by Miami (Fla.)

UCLA was 10-0 and ranked No. 3 in the nation coming into its finale against nonconference Miami (Fla.), a team which was 7-3 and unranked.

After scoring 21 points in the third quarter, the Bruins were up 38-28 coming into the fourth. The lead was short-lived as the Hurricanes roared back with 21 of their own points in the final period.

Miami’s Edgerrin James sealed the 49-45 upset with a 1-yard touchdown with less than a minute on the clock.

The Bruins dropped to 10-1 and finished No. 5 in the final BCS standings behind No. 4 Ohio State (10-1), No. 3 Kansas State (11-1), No. 2 Florida State (11-1) and No. 1 Tennessee (12-0).

Tennessee beat Florida State 23-16 in the national championship, while UCLA ended its season with a 38-31 loss to No. 9 Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

5. 2006: Michigan Falls to Ohio State

In one of the most meaningful rivalry games in the BCS era, No. 2 Michigan travelled to No. 1 Ohio State for the final game of 2006.

On the line was the Big Ten title and a ticket to the BCS national championship game.

The contest lived up to its “game of the century billing,” with a 28-14 Ohio State lead at halftime dissolving with 25 second-half points by the Wolverines.

What finally signaled the end was a failed onside kick attempt by Michigan, making the final score 42-39 in favor of the Buckeyes.

Ohio State finished No. 1 in the BCS rankings but fell to No. 2 Florida 41-14 in the national championship. Michigan finished No. 3 and lost to No. 8 USC 32-18 in the Rose Bowl.

4. 2007: West Virginia Gets Shocked in the 100th Backyard Brawl

All No. 2 ranked West Virginia needed to do to make the 2007-08 BCS title game was to beat 4-7 Pitt in the finale.

Aided by an injury to Mountaineer quarterback Pat White, Pitt’s defense held West Virginia to 183 yards of offense and forced three turnovers.  This propelled the Panthers to an unthinkable 13-9 upset win in Morgantown.

The shocking outcome, combined with Missouri’s loss to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, shook up the final BCS rankings.

Ohio State (11-1) rose from No. 3 to No. 1, while LSU (11-2) jumped from No. 7 to No. 2.  LSU won the national championship 38-24.

As for West Virginia, it dropped to No. 9 in the BCS standings and destroyed No. 4 ranked Oklahoma 48-28 in Fiesta Bowl.

3. 1998: Kansas State Gets Nipped by Texas A&M

In the opening season of the BCS, Kansas State was 11-0 and ranked No. 2 coming into its showdown with No. 10 Texas A&M in the Big 12 title game.

All it needed was a win over the Aggies to punch its ticket for the first-ever BCS championship.

K-State led 27-12 after three quarters, but A&M stormed back with 15 points in the fourth quarter pushing the game into overtime.

After trading field goals in the first extra period, the Wildcats kicked another field goal in the second overtime. This set up a thrilling 32-yard Branndon Stewart pass to Sirr Parker for an Aggie touchdown and a 36-33 A&M win.

The loss dropped K-State to third in the final BCS rankings behind No. 2 Florida State and No. 1 Tennessee.

Tennessee went on to beat Florida State 23-16 in the national championship. The Wildcats got relegated to the Alamo Bowl where they lost 37-34 to unranked Purdue.

2. 2012: Down Goes Georgia

With all the talk of Alabama’s dynastic run, it’s easy to forget that Georgia came just five yards short of being the SEC team that faced Notre Dame in the 2012 national championship.

The Bulldogs, down 32-28 with a minute left to play, drove the ball the length of the field only to have time expire after Chris Conley caught a three-yard Aaron Murray pass at the Crimson Tide 5-yard line.

Alabama went on to win the national championship with a 42-14 beat-down over No. 1 Notre Dame, while Georgia beat No. 23 Nebraska 45-31 in the Capital One Bowl.

1. 2004: Auburn Goes 12-0 and Stays Home

Imagine a tale where teams from the SEC, Pac-12 and Big 12 finish the season undefeated. 

Then, end the story with the Pac-12 and Big 12 teams being selected for the national championship game, while the perfect squad from the SEC sits out.

What?

That’s precisely what happened in 2004 when 12-0 Auburn, fresh off a 38-28 win over No. 15 Tennessee in the SEC title game, finished No. 3 in the final BCS standings.

Ranked ahead of the Tigers were No. 1 USC (12-0) and No. 2 Oklahoma (12-0).

The Trojans walloped the Sooners 55-19 in the BCS title game, while Auburn edged No. 9 Virginia Tech 16-13 in the Sugar Bowl.

Other than 12-0 Cincinnati in 2009, Auburn is the only undefeated BCS team ever to be locked out of the BCS title game.

To add insult to injury, USC later vacated its 2004 national title, leaving an even worse taste of injustice in Auburn fans’ mouths.